KINGSTON, R.I. – August 4, 2023 – Audiences, Film critics and business analysts are abuzz over this summer’s “Barbenheimer” phenomenon—the release of summer blockbusters Barbie and Oppenheimer on the same day and the ensuing box office success. Following successive losses at the box office for the last several years, moviegoers are returning to the theater. While losses are tied primarily to the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath, many believe the industry hasn’t recovered entirely and that theaters face new challenges, such as the growth of streaming services and direct-to-streaming releases.

Despite the uncertainty in Hollywood, public response to Barbenheimer shows there is still a place for the communal experience of movie going. Whether or not this signals a turnaround, Justin Wyatt, URI associate professor of communication studies, journalism and film/media, says, “Barbenheimer proves that marketing, advertising, and well-executed storytelling can still yield really impressive attention from audiences.”

Below, he discusses the movie industry, the success of both films and making movies an event worth leaving home for.

This is one of the most successful summers for the motion picture industry in recent memory. People are going to the movies again. How much of that is due to the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon and how much is something else?

The downturn in COVID-19 is definitely a small factor in this resurgence of the domestic box office. I am not sure that this success can be separated from Barbenheimer though. Barbenheimer reminds us that the movie industry expands and contracts depending on the product in the marketplace. This combination of movies strikes a real chord with so many audiences. Both have strong marketability (the ability to draw people to the theater) and potent playability (how much people like the movie when seeing it) too.

What do you think it is that is driving the success of these two movies? 

Barbie is obviously a perfect ‘pre-sold property,’ everybody knows the point-of-reference and most people have an opinion on Barbie. The marketing team understands that people have strong feelings about the toy and the movie’s tagline—“If you love Barbie, this movie is for you. If you hate Barbie, this movie is for you.”—brilliantly captures this. The trailer sets the tone for the film as fun, upbeat but also thought-provoking. Greta Gerwig is beloved as a star and director (Lady Bird was an amazing directorial debut), and matched with Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story, Frances Ha) as her co-writer, Barbie has credibility with both an art-house and a larger mainstream audience. Barbie delivers on its investigation of gender roles, offering some useful (if obvious) insights on female vs. male roles, stereotypes, and expectations in society.

Keep in mind though that the movie also has an amazing look and feel, with splashy, outrageous sets and pink in abundance, and a very marketable soundtrack. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling hit just the right notes in their performances too. The film delivers to both adults and the young without pandering to either group. A testament to its success is the box office drop of only 32% from the first to the second weekend. This indicates that word-of-mouth is very strong, and that people are returning to the theater to revisit Barbie.

Oppenheimer is a bigger surprise, especially when you consider that the film is lengthy (three hours), historical, and disturbing in its themes. Initially, I think that Universal Pictures was very savvy in capitalizing on director Christopher Nolan’s reputation for making smart action/franchise movies (The Dark Knight/The Dark Knight Rises, Batman Begins) and more challenging spectacles (Dunkirk, Interstellar, Inception). Nolan has an amazing vision and sense of storytelling as a director. The subject of Oppenheimer is heavy (the potential end of the world!), to say the least. The trailer positions the film as a powerful drama with a linear story: the race to build the bomb in an effort to defeat the Nazis in World War II. Nolan’s reputation for both action and drama with a story that seems timely make for a film that is marketable despite its marketing challenges.

What’s interesting is that Oppenheimer is, in fact, a fairly complicated and sometimes confusing drama with many characters and difficult themes. In this way, it reminds me of Francis Coppola’s The Godfather (Part I and Part II) and Apocalypse Now. I really like that audiences have embraced such a daunting yet worthwhile film (it dropped 44% weekend-to-weekend indicating that word-of-mouth is good but not as strong as that for Barbie).

To what extent is the marketing and accompanying hoopla responsible? 

I worked in television and media market research for 15 years before joining URI. I would occasionally hear an executive say that we needed to ‘eventize’ the opening for a film or TV show. Barbenheimer is perhaps the best example of eventizing I’ve seen.

These are two very different movies. Yet they are attracting wide – and in some cases the same – audiences. Is there anything that can be drawn from this?

The drastic differences between the two films yet strong appeal for each make them a great combination. Viewers know that they will get fun with Barbie and intensity with Oppenheimer. People want both feelings (either start with the intensity and reward yourself with the fun OR have fun and then get serious with the intensity). Barbie is silly and Oppenheimer is serious, both to the extreme. Thinking about them together gives you a marketing coup that makes people want to return to the movie theater. After all, won’t the spectacle of both films work better on the big screen than at home?

As a scholar who studies the media industries, Barbenheimer proves that marketing, advertising, and well-executed storytelling can still yield really impressive attention from audiences, especially when eventized as a one-two punch in the same weekend.